Italia, uno

Oh, the mountains. It's no secret here that my father has a house in Italy. It's in Abruzzo, a region not so well-known - it ought to be, though. Because it's so beautiful, pure and completely relaxed. There's no fuss there and that's what makes it somewhat magic. I usually go there a couple of times a year. This time wasn't exactly planned, and the weather was kind of dramatic, but it's always nice to visit Abruzzo.

I flew late at night and woke up to this view. The beautiful thing about that place is that it's ever-changing. One minute you can see the snow on the Maiella mountains, the next the mountain has disappeared behind a wall of clouds. I can gaze out over the valley for hours.

The first day, we took a drive over to the little town of Pietranico. It was practically deserted, I guess it was siesta. We found a little café and had a couple of espressi macchiati. I got to talking to one of the men in the café and suddenly he handed us a fistful of freshly plucked beans. I love Italians like that.

My uncle was the reason I went to Italy. He's going through a personal ordeal and had been in the house for 10 days before I came. We had long talks and I think it was a good change of scenery for him to have some company.

Look at that light! And those roofs.

After Pietranico, we drove up to Forca di Penne, an old ruin. The sky continued to be dramatic and I don't think I've ever seen such a deep blue colour like that.

Forca di Penne was muddy and we had cakes of dirt on our shoes. But the view didn't disappoint.

Later, we drove to Loreto Aprutino to do some shopping but the supermarket was closed. So we had a coffee while the rain poured. On our way back home, the mountains were barely visible for clouds that lay low. "It looks like Mount Fuji in Japan!" my uncle cried, and we had to pull over to photograph.

I've been wanting to photograph Catignano for years. We always pass it in the car and I adore the fact that it's built on a ridge like that overlooking the fields. This time I made my uncle pull over so I could snap it. It looked amazing with the lush green.